Not-too-sweet-ruby-jam ||| Doce de Framboesa com pouco açúcar

I’ve been eating jam on bread since I can recall, but in the past few years, I’ve been looking for jams with less and less sugar. Since it is near mission impossible to buy them, I’ve started to make my own, and have tried with apricots, strawberries and plums. Today, I decided it was time to try with my favorite berry, the raspberry, and make a mix with little sugar and lots of fruit. The result is a jam slightly acidic to taste, that one can eat with or without bread, on yogurt or whatever else you can imagine. However, if you like the 45% fruits/55% sugar usual ratio, this might not be sweet enough for you but you can easily add twice as much sweetener.

A few days ago, as the fridge was almost emptied of its greens (the horror!, says Silvia), we went to the Vegetable Union of Geneva (l’Union maraîchère) to restock. It’s a place that that sells local vegetables too large or too small for supermarkets, 40% cheaper, and directly from the producers. It’s a heavenly little hall for those who crave their vegetables, and yes, they are fresher than most other shops/supermarkets. During the summer months, they also have fresh berries, and this time, I had to do it! So we bought almost two kilos of raspberries, more than I had ever had in my shopping bag, ready to make some serious jam.

Let’s get started on this easy-not-too-sweet-ruby-jam.

Raspberry Jam

1750g raspberries

400g whole cane sugar

100g honey

Juice from 1+1/2 lime

Mix the raspberries with the sugar in a large bowl and let it rest for an hour in the fridge. Put a couple of metal tea spoons in the freezer to later check the consistency of the jam.

Place all ingredients in a non reactive cooking pot, and bring to a boil. Keep cooking for another 8 minutes while stirring, not to burn the jam. After 6 to 7 minutes, the mixture should be a bit thicker and the bubbles smaller. Take one of the frozen spoons, smear a little jam on it and keep in horizontally. After the jam has cooled, pass a finger through it. If it leaves a distinct track, it is ready.

Place the jam in sterilized jars (boiling them for a few minutes should suffice).

Depending on the water content and the acidity of the fruits, it will take between 7 to 10 minutes to cook this jam after it’s started boiling. Using little sugar makes for a fruitier taste, but the cooking has to be watched carefully.